Mix Fest 2019: An Interview With Amiel from Rubber Duc

Rubber Duc are one of the acts who will be jamming at Mix Fest 2019 this weekend. I recently had an interview with Amiel from Rubber Duc about this and a few other things. This is what he had to say…

You guys have been on the scene for about 5 years now. When you guys started out back then, was this what you imagined the band direction would be?

When we started out, we always dreamed of playing the big stages across SA, that dream has come true within the 5 years we have been a band. I guess when you start something you can’t really foresee what will happen with the sound direction in the future, you initially go by what you can write best and what your influences at the time are.

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If I could have told you 5 years ago that Rubber Duc would sound like we do currently do, even I would be shocked. From a Mumford & Sons / Mango Groove (without a drummer) influenced sound to what we could currently describe as the love child of Kygo / Ed Sheeran / Khalid…I mean who the hell knows these days, we are just having loads of fun, doing our best, and producing what we enjoy!

Over the last 5 years, what have been the standout performance for Rubber Duc?

This question is always hard to answer. So many shows are so unique in their own ways. I guess Kirstenbosch will always be right up there, but we also love the intimate shows like Die Blou Hond, where people are there to ‘Listen’ rather than jol! But I must say, flip we love Splashy Fen! What a treat!

How excited are you guys to be playing Mix Fest 2019?

We are super excited for Mix Fest 2019! A debut music festival powered by a radio station is always a win and we hope they do many more in the years to come! The lineup is incredible, the venue is stunning, now we just got to let the music do it’s bit!

To the few ignorant souls out there who only know Rubber Duc as that band that did ‘Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That’, what can they expect at Mix Fest 2019?

It’s very difficult to describe our show, we just believe that our purpose as musicians is to get out there and entertain. We’ve been working hard on our new sound and show as a whole and are very excited to get new ears listening to it. We engage a hell of a lot with our audience and sing them through their emotions. We have songs for everybody 🙂

Your website describes Rubber Duc as South Africa’s premier ADM (acoustic dance music) act. Care to elaborate on that description?

Haha! We love this. When trying to place our new sound, we didn’t feel like we fit into any set genre. With the complete and utter saturation of music & the ease of which you can get it in the digital space, genres are beginning to morph into numerous sub genres and so one.

So, if we take our current sound, the love child of Kygo / Ed Sheeran / Khalid (now that’d be on strange looking baby), we felt that the genre we would fall into would be “Acoustic Dance Music” a little bit of this a little bit of that all merged together into what we call ADM.

In another 5 years’ time, where would you want to see Rubber Duc?

The 5 year dream, goal, vision: touring the USA, Europe and Australasia as a headline act with fans all over the world.

I would like to thank Amiel and Rubber Duc for this interview and I wish them all of the best with their set at Mix Fest 2019 and their future musical endeavours.

Watch this space for updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.

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Bianca Nieuwenhuis

Art is not what I create. What I create is chaos.